Page 6 of Chase
“Brother, there’s been no activity,” Scorpion told me. I clenched my hands together on the tabletop. “I think they’ve decided her store isn’t worth the hassle. I say we pull the protection.” I glowered at him. I didn’t fucking like the idea, but I knew we couldn’t keep personal security on her building forever.
Fuck, just to try to show her how serious this was, I’d kept my distance. I hadn’t been in her store in two fucking weeks. It had been slowly killing me inside to not be able to smell her, to see that beautiful scowl, and I was in a piss-ass mood most of the time because of it. The only time I saw her was through the security feeds inside her store, and dammit, it wasn’tenough.
“Look, we’ll keep a close eye on her,” Scorpion assured me. “But I’ve got to put the man hours to something else.”
I sighed but nodded my head. “Do what you have to,” I grumbled, getting up from the table. “I’m going to find one of the girls.”
Scorpion nodded. Everyone was worried about me, but fuck, I was just a fucker head over heels for a woman who would never see me in the same light. Pussy was my only reprieve, even if I only ever saw her face.
But at least my balls weren’t suffering, too.
I pulled up the cameras inside her store as I made my way down the hall to my room. She was stocking books and talking happily with an older man, pointing at the book in his hand. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it didn’t matter.
My chest still ached at the sight of her.
“Goddammit, woman,” I whispered, closing the app. “You’re driving me mad.”
4
Chase
Iscrubbed my hands down my face before looking back at my laptop screen where all of the security feeds for Sophia’s store were pulled up. I couldn’t fucking sleep. Sophia was still at the bookstore well past dark, alternating between stocking shelves and doing paperwork. She never worked this late, and I was worried as fuck that something was going to go wrong.
Why couldn’t she do that shit in the morning? When it was light out and she wasn’t such an easy target? Or hell, if she was going to stock at night, why the hell couldn’t she do it when we had around-the-clock protection on her store?
Grunting, I almost closed my laptop, determined to ignore whatever she was doing and not make myself fucking crazier than I already was. But then, two shadowed figures popped up at the camera to her backdoor, and before I could even get to my feet, they were inside, breaking the lock.
No!
“Scorpion!” I yelled, already rushing out of the room, trying to dial Sophia’s number. I’d had it since she booked our security services, but I’d never used it, determined to get her to agree to go out with me without letting her know how much of a fucking stalker I was.
But she didn’t fucking answer. The phone just rang and rang before going to voicemail, her cheery voice coming through the line, telling me to leave my name and number and she would get back to me as soon as possible.
We all got the message at the same time, our phones blaring, letting us know which location had been broken into. Scorpion looked up at me, and he didn’t even have to ask. I was breathing hard, my lungs on the verge of collapsing. Fear slithered through my veins, but I shoved that shit back, refusing to let it infect me.
Sophia needed me, and I wasnotfucking letting her down. I just prayed I got there fast enough.
“Let’s go,” he snapped, but I was already rushing out the door, my bike keys in my hand. Gidget and Mark jumped into the van, and we all tore out of the lot, heading toward Books & Brews, doing way over the speed limit.
I dared a fucking cop to pull me over right then. It’d be the last goddamn day they did anything. Even breathe.Nothingwas keeping me away from my woman.
The alarms weren’t blaring when we got there, and I cursed. That meant they’d cut off the signal to the police force in town, which was the only reason the street wasn’t lit up with blue and red lights. The lights inside the shop were all off, but there was no doubt in my mind that they heard us pulling up if they were inside, which meant they’d had time to escape.
I quickly got off my bike and pulled my gun from its holster. Scorpion and I took the back door, and Halo and Elias took the front. Scorpion silently held his fingers up, and when he got down to zero, essentially making a fist, we went in quietly.
The silence in the building was almost deafening. I couldn’t even hear the hum of the air conditioning or her coffee machines whirring.
Dread filled my stomach.
Please fucking be here, cupcake.
We scoured the place but didn’t come up with anything. Didn’t even find Sophia. I wanted to vomit. Fuck, it threatened to choke me. But by a miracle, I held the bile back.
“They’re gone,” I muttered, my heart pounding with adrenaline. “We need to find Sophia.”
“I’m looking, brother,” Scorpion muttered. “Got her,” he finally said, the security feed zoomed in on his phone. “Coffee area.”
We rushed over there, Scorpion barking out orders to the rest of the crew now that we knew we were alone—aside from Sophia.